


Serving You

by LittleRabbitGrapefruit



Category: NINE PERCENT (Band), 偶像练习生 | Idol Producer (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Arranged Marriage, Disclaimer: I have no idea how royalty actually works, Fluff and Angst, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, Master/Servant, Mentioned IPD Ensemble, Mostly Fluff, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:09:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25280650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleRabbitGrapefruit/pseuds/LittleRabbitGrapefruit
Summary: You Zhangjing's peaceful life as a prince is disturbed when he's suddenly forced to choose between two different suitors, his situation only made worse when he can't seem to stop thinking about the new personal servant he'd been given.
Relationships: Lin Yanjun/You Zhangjing, Wang Ziyi/You Zhangjing, You Zhangjing/Zhu Zhengting | Jung Jung
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	1. The worst day of You Zhangjing's life

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first time to ever write a fic, and I really decided to have it be a multi-chaptered one huh? The reason I'm writing this was cause a scene in the story popped up into my head in a dream once and I really wanted to share it, but at the same time I also got intrigued by the idea of writing an actual, full blown story about it! You can find my twt @zhangjingultfan if you want to scream at me about the fic in my dms! I'm very open to constructive criticism and how to make this story the best it can be, so I hope you can drop your comments here or on my twt, I'd appreciate them wherever they are!

Soft shuffling is heard from outside their room, stirring Zhangjing out of what was a restless slumber. Zhangjing turns to his curtained window, surprised to see that the sun had just barely begun to rise.  _ Who could be walking around this early?  _ Zhangjing immediately turns to the bed parallel to his, seeing that his younger brother was still peacefully sleeping. He returns his attention to the door, with the sound of the doorknob jiggling. Zhangjing silently hops off his bed, rushing to the side of his younger brother’s bed.

“Justin, get up.” Zhangjing whispers as he lightly shakes his younger brother awake, the tall boy wakes up almost immediately, eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. Justin opens his mouth to scold him, but Zhangjing quickly hushes him and points towards the door. “Assassin. Get out through the balcony, call a guard, or Cheng Xiao, anyone. I’ll be right behind you.” 

Zhangjing is no stranger to assassination attempts, he’s been the heir to his father’s throne for as long as he can remember.  _ This one doesn’t seem to be very good at their job.  _ Zhangjing thinks to himself as Justin reluctantly follows his orders and leaves their room, landing on the bushes of the garden outside their shared room.

Once confirming that Justin has safely reached the garden, Zhangjing picks up a dagger from his drawer before creeping up to the door. He places his hand on the knob, ready to confront the mystery assailant waiting outside. Swinging the door open, he catches the masked stranger with long black hair by surprise, quickly reprimanding them by locking their arms behind their back.

“Who hired you? Why are they targeting me? What do they want?” He says in one quick breath, the sight of the assassin struggling to grab their dagger making him tighten his grip. “Well? I’d be more than willing to break your arms if you don’t answer.” Truth be told, he really would rather it not come to that, he considers himself as quite the pacifist after all. Though his disposition changes when there are people who wish to bring harm to him or his family.

The stranger still isn’t responding, so Zhangjing starts to bend their arms in ways it shouldn’t, hoping that they’d give in before he does any real damage. “You’re… not the... target.” Zhangjing’s blood runs cold at the implications of the statement, he slams the assassin’s head against the door frame, rendering them unconscious. He clicks his tongue, wishing he didn’t have to resort to such violent methods, but there are more important issues at hand. He rushes to the balcony, seeing Justin’s silhouette making its way around the garden and towards one of the servant rooms. 

Zhangjing breathes a sigh of relief, but panic overwhelms him almost immediately when he sees a cloaked figure rushing to Justin’s general direction. “Justin! Keep running! Don’t turn back!” He shouts with all he can, the tall boy quickening his pace. Seeing as the second assassin didn’t seem bothered by how he must have alerted the whole castle by now, Zhangjing jumps down from the balcony and readies himself to sprint towards his younger brother.

He runs as fast as his legs can carry him, praying to all the higher forces there are that Justin could outrun the person chasing him.  _ Who thought a garden maze was a good idea?  _ Zhangjing hisses when he runs into another dead end, he’s supposed to know this part of the castle like the back of his hand, so why is he getting lost like it’s his first time here?

s around his younger brother, almost brought to tears seeing how he was safe. “Ugh, you’re sweaty! Let go!” Justin pries him off, the animosity in his eyes being clear as day. Zhangjing feels around his own neck, surprised to find no wound where he expected one.

****  
  


“Uh, Zhangjing! Help!” Justin’s shouts can be heard from quite a distance. Zhangjing decides that following the path of the maze right now would take too much time, so he starts barreling towards where he heard Justin’s scream, pushing through hedge after hedge and desecrating the flowers beneath him. He’s ran past almost a dozen hedges when he finally catches sight of his younger brother, slowly backing away from a hooded figure.

Zhangjing’s eyes go wide once he sees another figure lying in the shadows where Justin was backing up to. “Justi-!” Zhangjing shouts to warn him, but he suddenly feels something sharp plunge deep into his neck, the next thing his blurring vision can see is Justin running towards him.  _ Don’t come over here _ . Zhangjing wants to say, but he’s already finding it difficult to breathe, panic setting in once more when he sees the two figures behind Justin silently approaching him. 

“Hey, wake up already!” Zhangjing opens his eyes to find himself back in their room, with Justin shaking him violently shaking him with an annoyed expression. Zhangjing quickly throws his arm _ A dream? Well, obviously. As if I could beat up an assassin.  _ Zhangjing looks outside, seeing the bright sun beaming down upon their room as the sounds of chirping birds fill the air. Zhangjing sighs, plopping back down on his bed, tuning out the sounds of his brother’s complaints.

“Prince Zhangjing, Prince Minghao, please wake up. Your father has returned and wishes to speak to the both of you.” A voice that Zhangjing recognizes comes from outside the door, his personal servant ever since he turned eighteen, Cheng Xiao. He grumbles as he steps out of bed, stretching a bit before making his way towards the door in order to open it. “Good morning, princes. Please, follow me, this matter seemed quite urgent.” Zhangjing and Justin exchange confused glances, but they have no room to retaliate when it comes to their father, so they wordlessly follow Cheng Xiao as she leads them to one of the castle’s many discussion rooms.

Cheng Xiao opens the door for them, waiting for them to enter before going in herself and closing the door behind them. “Oh, I'm so happy to see you two looking well!” Their father exclaims once they enter, Zhangjing and Justin sitting in front of their father as Cheng Xiao stands to the side. “Zhangjing.” He says soon after the three of them have settled.

“Yes, father?” Zhangjing asks, keeping his composure and decorum in check so that he wouldn’t accidentally offend his father.

“Do you remember those kids you played with when you were young?” Zhangjing shuts his eyes in thought,  _ The princes from the other kingdoms? I’m pretty sure Justin was still a baby then.  _ Zhangjing nods at his father’s question, giving a rehearsed smile. “Well, they’re going to visit later today. We’re gonna have a party and everything!” Justin excitedly claps, not adhering to any of the social norms their father had drilled into Zhangjing.

_ Why are they visiting today? There’s no major event that would require intra-kingdom interaction.  _ Zhangjing racks his memories trying to think of why they would be arriving so suddenly. “Why are they even going here?” Justin asks, inquisitive eyes looking directly at their father. 

Their father’s gaze lands upon Zhangjing, making him tense up in his seat. “Well, from what I know, they plan on coming here in order to court your brother.” He says nonchalantly, like he was just listing off the daily tasks for the maids.

“Excuse me? I don’t remember agreeing to this.” Zhangjing interjects, eyebrows furrowed as this was the first he was hearing of this. “I barely even know them.” He crosses his arms with a huff, dissatisfaction mde clear on his face.

“Uh, yeah. That’s why they’re courting you.” Justin reaches over to give Zhangjing a hug, which the older of the two doesn’t reciprocate at all. Justin lets go and turns back to their father. “Anyway, when can I get my own personal servant? I’m already past eighteen! Zhangjing got Cheng Xiao exactly on his eighteenth birthday!”  _ Hey now, don’t talk about her like she’s an object.  _ Zhangjing pouts, knowing his brother probably didn’t mean it to come out that way.

Their father looks back and forth between the three of them for a while, humming to himself. “Alright, starting today, Cheng Xiao’s your servant.”  _ What? This isn’t fair!  _ Zhangjing never once treated Cheng Xiao as his servant, preferring to act as if the two of them were on friendly terms, he’d hate for her to be given to someone as whiny and needy as Justin, as much as he loves him. “I assume there are no objections?” Although it was a question, it was obvious that Zhangjing had no choice but to accept.

Zhangjing looks back at Cheng Xiao, who was simply keeping her head lowered the entire time, eyes unfocused. He whispers an apology to her before turning back to his father. “Yes, father. There are no objections.” Zhangjing grits his teeth, not wanting to part with one of the few people he actually liked in this castle. “May I ask who will be my new servant?”

Zhangjing never liked the idea of a master-servant relationship, but he had to keep up appearances around the kingdom, he was next in line to the throne after all. “Oh, we did just acquire a new slave today, what was his name again?”  _ Slave.  _ The word makes Zhangjing’s skin crawl, he can’t wait for the day when he can become king and finally change all the things he hates about how things are run around here, starting with letting go of all the slaves that their country had captured on their ventures for more land. “His name… Lin Yanjun? I think?” 

_ Lin Yanjun. That's a nice name.  _ Zhangjing gives his father a polite smile for answering his query. "Well father, if that is all, then I wish to take my leave now." Zhangjing stands up, bowing slightly before making his way out of the discussion room, leaving Justin with Cheng Xiao and their father.

Walking alone through the winding hallways without Cheng Xiao trailing behind him felt quite odd. Zhangjing is confident when he says that he and the young girl got along quite well, he seldom gave her orders and always liked to see her smile.  _ It's the least I could do, they took her as a slave from the small village our kingdom ransacked after all.  _ Zhangjing sighs, realizing he'll have to work extra hard to make his new servant, Lin Yanjun, comfortable with him.

Walking past the dining hall, Zhangjing makes his way towards the castle's garden, a part of the castle dedicated to flowers and bushes that he himself cultivates. The first thing Zhangjing sees when he arrives is the squashed purple lilacs, and dirty footsteps leading further in. He squats down, trying to salvage any of the flowers he knows still has a chance to make it, while picking up the ones he knows are done for.

Zhangjing stands back up, following the footsteps with flowers in hand and ready to confront whoever dared to ruin the garden he loves so dearly. He turns a corner in the slightly elaborate hedge maze to see a tall, raven-haired man staring at one of the dead end walls.  _ He's not from here.  _ Zhangjing can see his dirtied clothes, knowing that the castle guards wouldn't let people like that in without proper reason.

"Hello? Who are you?" He calls out, the stranger quickly turning to face him.  _ Oh, he's handsome.  _ Zhangjing gulps at the sight presented to him, the man's sheer beauty blinding him, or maybe it was the sun doing that. "Are you lost?" He asks when he receives no response.

The tall stranger eyes him from head to toe, making Zhangjing wish he at least changed out of his casual sleep attire before heading out. "A prince?" He asks, and Zhangjing can feel himself melt against the other man's voice.

"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah. I'm the crown prince, You Zhangjing." He introduces himself, surprised to find out this person doesn't know him.  _ He must be from outside then.  _ "What about you? What's your name?"

The stranger doesn't respond once again, eyes simply landing on the flowers Zhangjing was still holding. "Are those for me?" He asks with a smile, dimples appearing on his cheeks. Zhangjing feels his face flare up a little, not even caring anymore that this is probably the person that ruined a part of his lovely, pristine garden.

"Uhm, sure?" He hands the lilacs to the man in front of him, who thanks him with another dimpled smile. Zhangjing coughs, forcing himself to remain calm. "Anyway, what are you doing here? You haven't told me your name yet either."

"My name? Yanjun." Zhangjing's eyes widened in shock, his mouth dropping open unconsciously. He quickly grabs him by the wrist, pulling him towards the exit of the garden.

"You're not supposed to be here! Come on, I'll take you to the servant's common room and they can tell you what to do." At his words, he suddenly feels Yanjun pull his hand back, making Zhangjing lose his balance a little. "Huh? What's wrong?"

Yanjun's face darkened, any hints of happiness dissipating almost immediately. "I don't want to be a servant. I want to go home." Zhangjing yelps, the threatening aura coming from Yanjun catching him off guard.  _ So they really did just take him from his home, just like Cheng Xiao. _

"I don't have a say in that…" Zhangjing trails off, feeling embarrassed at how little he can do to help Yanjun.

"I thought you were the prince?" Yanjun eyes him suspiciously, slowly backing away.  _ This is just like what happened when I first met Cheng Xiao.  _ Zhangjing misses having the young girl as his personal servant already, cursing himself for not even fighting against his father's words.

"I am! It's just that, my father's still the one in charge of most things." Yanjun seems to lower his guard ever so slightly, no longer backing up. "It'll be worse for you if you try to run away, so please just follow me?" Zhangjing pleads, not wanting to see Yanjun being punished for misbehaviour. Yanjun’s lips form into a line, awkwardly staring down at Zhangjing in silence. “Okay, I’m taking that as a yes.”

Zhangjing leads the way, reassured once he hears Yanjun's footsteps closely behind him. "I'll just take you to the head servant's room and then they'll tell you what you need to do." Truth be told, Zhangjing already knew what Yanjun's role in the castle was, but telling him that now would probably not be to his benefit. "You don't talk much, do you?" Zhangjing turned on his heel, facing the ever silent Yanjun, who was still holding the flowers from earlier.

Zhangjing was about to point that out, but a shrill scream from behind him forced him to turn. “We finally found you!” Zhangjing recognizes the voice immediately, sighing in relief once he found out it was just the head of the servants, Lin Chaoze. “Oh, Prince Zhangjing, a fine morning to you.” He says between breaths, visibly exhausted and sweating.

“You don't have to call me that.” Zhangjing dismissively waves his hand in the air before looking back at Yanjun. “Is he the one you were looking for?” Chaoze wordlessly nods, wiping the sweat off his forehead. “Well, I have things I need to do. Yanjun, it’s best if you just follow Chaoze, okay?” Yanjun’s face remained expressionless, making Zhangjing feel awkward under his gaze. “Well, see you around?” He waves goodbye to the two of them, brisk walking out of the garden and going back inside the castle.

_ Goodness, that was a lot more tiring than I thought it would be.  _ Zhangjing stretches in the empty hallway, regretting that he chose to skip breakfast just to visit the garden earlier than he usually would.  _ But then I wouldn’t have met Yanjun…  _ He feels his face become slightly hotter after that thought, brushing it away as he starts to walk towards the dining hall.

When he arrives, he places his hand on the door, still unsure of what will happen later today with Yanjun as his new servant and with the princes from the other kingdoms coming to court him. He pushes the door open, seeing a few of the servants scramble around before standing up and greeting him. “Good morning, Prince Zhangjing.” They manage to say, and he gives them a smile before sitting down on one of the tables near the kitchen.

“You know, I still don’t understand why you choose to eat here when you could just ask the food to be brought to your room.” One of the servants, Dinghao, says as he places a plateful of food in front of Zhangjing. The plate was full of all sorts of food, a healthy serving of rice piled upon with various meats and vegetables. “It’s weird how much taller your brother is when you eat this much.” Dinghao playfully jokes, his laughter only grows more when Zhangjing shoots him a glare. “Alright, I’m sorry.” He places both hands in the air to show his surrender, making Zhangjing’s lips curl into a small smirk.

After Dinghao's return to the kitchen, Zhangjing finishes his meal in relative peace, mind still slightly muddled from the events of the day so far.  _ Weird dream, an unannounced party, and my new servant is…  _ Zhangjing stops his train of thought immediately, already feeling his cheeks slightly burning at the thought of Yanjun.

Seeing that he's already finished his food and not wanting to spend any more time thinking about the man he met in the garden, Zhangjing stands up, but it seems he's done it a bit too aggressively, worried heads turning to see the source of the sound. "Oh, um, sorry." He says while offering a small bow, which seems to quell the minds of those that were staring, all of them going back to what they were doing previously.

He exits the dining hall and doesn't know what to do for the rest of the day, he'd usually have a schedule planned out but the sudden addition of a party seemed to halt all his activities for the day.  _ Should I go check out what's happening with Chaoze and Yanjun?  _ Zhangjing slaps his cheeks at the idea,  _ Stop! Thinking! About! Yanjun!  _ He mentally scolds himself, slapping his face with growing intensity at each word, regretting it when he feels his face slightly sore.

Zhangjing runs through the options of what to do, he could just play around in the garden or the stables until the party, or maybe just go back to his room and sleep, or maybe take the time to finally finish that book he started almost months ago but never found the time to actually finish. Zhangjing looks down at his feet, realizing he was still wearing his sleep attire.  _ Guess I should take a bath and change first.  _

Standing outside the room he shared with Justin, he can hear some arguing coming from the inside. "I told you to call me Justin!" He hears his brother's shout, and he decides that he'll come in once he hears a bit more of the conversation, it seemed like a funny thing to talk about in the future.

"Prince Mingh-" A voice that Zhangjing recognizes as Cheng Xiao starts, but she's interrupted by a sudden "Justin.". Zhangjing silently chuckles to himself, remembering the days when he was still mistakenly calling him Minghao rather than Justin. "Prince Minghao, I don't believe I have the right to refer to you in such a casual manner." Justin doesn't bite back, and even though the comment wasn't directed at him, Zhangjing could feel his heart break a little after hearing that.

After a few moments of silence, Zhangjing thinks it's finally time to knock on the door, but he digresses when he hears Justin talking again. "Okay then, just help me pick out what to wear for tonight."  _ Maybe he's not as spoiled and immature as I thought.  _ Zhangjing smiles before finally knocking on the door, opening it shortly after without even waiting for a response.

Justin and Cheng Xiao turn to look at Zhangjing, with the latter bowing at his entry. “What are you guys talking about?” Zhangjing asks so it wasn’t obvious that he was eavesdropping.

“Oh, nothing important. Anyway, what do you think about wearing matching clothes for the party? Doesn’t that sound like a great idea?”  _ No, no it doesn’t.  _ Zhangjing would like to say, but he’s been taught enough about social manners to know the proper way to respond.

“We don’t have the same charm, Justin. You’d look good in your clothes and I’d look good in mine.” Zhangjing says as he opens his closet and pulls out an outfit, shaking it a bit to show his younger brother. Justin averts his eyes, laughing loudly and Zhangjing could swear he saw Cheng Xiao let out a small chuckle. “Why? What’s wrong?”

“It’s a party, why does it look like you’re going horse riding?” Justin’s laughter is more apparent as he points at Zhangjing’s clothes.

“Well, I think I look cute in this.” Zhangjing huffs, pulling the clothes closer to his chest. Justin wipes a tear from his eye before pulling out some of his own clothes. He shows Zhangjing his multi-layered outfit, multiple undershirts, a vest, a cravat and even a cape. “Now that just looks like an incredibly dated outfit.” Zhangjing sighs, putting his clothes back in his wardrobe, digging around for a more “appropriate” attire.

He pulls out a purple, slightly see through, puffed long sleeve shirt and a sleek, black, tailcoat. “God, they’re supposed to court you! You should at least try to look coordinated with your outfit!” Justin rolls his eyes, pushing past Zhangjing to dig around his closet in hopes of finding an actual nice fit for his brother. “Here, no complaints.” Justin pushed a white wing collared dress shirt, with a matching waistcoat. He turns back to the closet to dig out an appropriate coat before realizing that the tailcoat Zhangjing had chosen earlier was already fine.

Justin hums to himself as he fishes around the closet more, tossing Zhangjing a pair of fitted trousers. “Look, Justin, I appreciate the help but if they’re planning on courting me then isn’t it best if I show them how I really am?” Zhangjing puts the clothes he was handed to on his bed, “I don’t want to disappoint them when it turns out I’m not the kind of person they think I am.” Justin pauses from scavenging his closet, turning to face him with a frown.

“Sorry, it’s just that… You’re already so old! And you haven’t had so much as a first kiss!”  _ Oh, like you have?  _ “I just think this is a great chance for you to finally, I don’t know, get yourself out there, or something…” Justin trails off, looking down as he kicks the ground. 

“Fine, fine. I’ll wear these.” Zhangjing places the pile of clothes back in his hand, and Justin squeals in delight, clapping his hands. “But, it wouldn’t hurt to add some color, I think I’d look a bit boring if I just wore black and white.” Justin fervently nodded, pushing aside Zhangjing’s monochrome ties to find a pinkish-red bow tie. 

Justin holds the tie out in front of Zhangjing’s chest. “Well, it definitely doesn’t coordinate, but I think that just makes you look cuter!” Zhangjing can feel himself blush at the compliment, it was one thing to call yourself cute, but being called cute by other people is on a league of its own. 

"Okay, I'll just take a bath first." Zhangjing says, folding all the clothes neatly for him to wear after his bath. Justin happily nods, going back to his own wardrobe to find out what to wear. Zhangjing opens the door to the bathroom that their room was connected to, making sure to lock the door before taking off his clothes.

Zhangjing turns on the faucet, cold water streaming into the tub as he waits for it to fill. When he feels that it's at an adequate level, he dips a toe in first, content at how it wasn't too cold.  _ Wait, what are you doing in a bathtub Zhangjing? Who are you trying to impress?  _ He knew that he was the type of person to take quick showers and leave it at that.

But for some reason, he felt captivated towards the products lining the shelf near the bathtub.  _ I've never used scented shampoo before _ . Zhangjing inspects the first bottle he grabs, wondering just how safe it is to apply to his hair all for the sake of making his hair smell like caramel.

Throwing caution to the wind, he squirts a generous amount on his hand before lathering it on his hair, surprised to see how nice the smell that permeates through the room is. He's massaging his scalp when a thought crosses his mind,  _ I wonder if Yanjun would like th-  _

He splashes his face with water, lowering his head until his nose is just barely above the water.  _ What does it matter what he thinks _ . Zhangjing blows, making bubbles rise to the surface. He forces himself out of the tub shortly after rinsing his hair, drying himself with one of the many towels at his disposal

He cracks open the door to find that Justin and Cheng Xiao have already vacated the room, leaving him as the only person there, leaving Zhangjing alone as he waits until he's called for the party.  _ I hope things turn out alright.  _ He puts on his clothes and picks up the book by his bedside drawer, hoping to kill some time before then.

A few hours later, with the sun already about to say it's farewell, Zhangjing sighs, placing down the book he was reading in order to stretch, seeing that nighttime was approaching.

He's ready to head out, hand already on the door when he hears knocking from the other side. "Who is it?" He calls out, but he receives no response.  _ Maybe it's Yanjun?  _ Zhangjing swallows as he opens the door, relieved to find out he was right.

"Um, did you need something?" Zhangjing asks when the tall boy just stood awkwardly in front of him, wearing an expressionless face that was difficult to read. He eyes Yanjun from head to toe, seeing him dressed in a white, long-sleeved button up and a black vest, matching pants and comfy looking dress shoes.  _ Oh yeah, he's my servant now.  _

"It's time…" Yanjun mutters out, voice so soft Zhangjing was surprised he heard it. "Time for what?" He asked, still not completely understanding what Yanjun was trying to tell him. "Time for the… party…" Zhangjing felt bad just hearing that, it was so glaringly obvious that Yanjun isn't comfortable being his servant.

_ Think, Zhangjing, what can you do to make him know you'd rather be his friend. _ "Oh, I'll just get something, then we can go." He walks up to his closet, fishing out a black bolo tie with golden tips that has a small padparadscha as it's clasp. He rushes back to the door and hands the tie to Yanjun. "Here, wear this."

Yanjun looks at him, eyebrows furrowed. "Why?" He tries to return it, but Zhangjing just pushes it back to his hands.

"So we can match!" Zhangjing points at the reddish-pink tie he was wearing, the color being similar to the clasp of the tie he had just given Yanjun. He doesn’t seem to accept that line of reasoning however, still trying to return the tie. “Come on, we’re friends aren’t we?” Zhangjing pouts, looking up at Yanjun with the most pitiful looking puppy dog eyes he could muster.

Yanjun purses his lips, averting his gaze from the smaller man. He puts the tie on, stepping away from the door so Zhangjing could leave. “We’re not friends.” He says as he waits for Zhangjing to lead the way.  _ Oh well, I’m sure he’ll warm up to me.  _ Zhangjing reassures himself, pumping a fist in the air.

Zhangjing starts walking down the hallway, with Yanjun silently trailing behind him, eyes completely trained on Zhangjing. They’ve walked quite a while before Zhangjing realizes he has no idea where they’re going, or where the party is even going to be held. “Yanjun.” He calls out, coming to a halt as he turns to face him.

Yanjun stops too, seemingly surprised by how Zhangjing just suddenly stopped walking “...What?” He asks, bringing his hands out of his pockets to place them on his side in case he needed to do something.

“I don’t know where we’re going.” Zhangjing states matter-of-factly, Yanjun looking at him in disbelief. “Wait, seriously. They didn’t tell me anything, do you know where it is?” Yanjun starts chuckling, and Zhangjing can’t help but smile seeing Yanjun being happy. 

Zhangjing clears his throat, bringing Yanjun back to the predicament they were in. “I don’t know either.” He says in between light laughter, even wiping a tear from his eye. “Seriously, what kind of prince are you?” Usually, Zhangjing would get infuriated by such a comment, but this time, he can’t help but just laugh along with Yanjun at how inept he’s presented himself to be so far.

Their laughter is interrupted when Zhangjing feels a tap on his shoulder, instantly whipping his head around only to see Cheng Xiao. “What are you doing here?” Zhangjing asked in a manner that sounded a bit too aggressive for his liking, but it’s not like he could take back his words now.

“Prince Mingha- Justin told me to fetch you two. Follow me.” Cheng Xiao turned on her heel and started walking, not even waiting to see if the two of them were following her. Zhangjing and Yanjun exchanged confused glances before realizing that they were about to lose her if they didn’t move.

Rushing to her side, Zhangjing asks, “How’d you know where we were?” 

“I didn’t. I checked every room and every hallway until I found you two, though it seemed I interrupted something, I apologize.” She stops walking to bow to Zhangjing, who quickly feels embarrassed at the hassle he had put the girl through just to find him and Yanjun.

“Oh, no, no it’s fine. We appreciate the help, neither of us knew where to go after all.” Zhangjing gave her a smile once she raised her head, which she only responded to with a nod. “Anyway, are the other guests already there?” Cheng Xiao simply nods once more, making Zhangjing feel even more embarrassed now that he found out he’s been delaying the party from starting.

Cheng Xiao stops in front of the door of one of the banquet halls, pushing it open for Zhangjing to enter. He gives her his thanks before going on, saying his greetings to the servants of the castle he recognizes. “You’re late!” He hears Justin shout from halfway across the banquet hall.  _ No tact at all.  _ Zhangjing sighs, hoping that it would simply be something Justin would learn in the future.

Justin runs towards the two of them, bumping into a few guests who don’t seem to complain. “The guests are already here! What took you so long?” He’s suddenly whispering, and Zhangjing scans the room, finding some people he doesn’t recognize that were either eating or chatting with one another. Zhangjing shrugs, not really willing to explain why they were late, knowing he’d never be able to live it down.

“Anyway, I’m hungry, so I’ll just get some food first.” Zhangjing swears he heard Justin say “when are you not?” When he mentioned his hunger, though he was probably just imagining it. He walks away from Justin, making a beeline towards the table holding all the food, grabbing a plate for himself, awestruck by the selection of food presented to him as he fills his plate to the brim. “You should eat too, Yanju-” He turned to see a woman with long black hair talking to a visibly uncomfortable Yanjun, the woman acting a bit too chummy for Zhangjing’s liking.

“You’re… not from here… are you?” She asks with a smirk, the deep red color of her lips contrasting with her pale face. Zhangjing walks up to the two of them, grabbing Yanjun by the arm. “Oh… Apologies…” She apologizes before, heading somewhere else, letting the both of them let out a breath they didn’t know they were holding.

“What are you doing? You should tell someone if they’re making you feel uncomfortable!” Zhangjing scolds him, but making sure he wouldn’t raise his voice so Yanjun wouldn’t think he was actually mad. Yanjun looks down at the ground, his hands back on his pockets.

“I don’t like being someone’s servant.” Zhangjing can feel his heart break after hearing Yanjun say that, reminding him of just how little progress he’s made in making Yanjun enjoy his company enough to consider him a friend rather than his master.  _ Well, of course. It’s only been a day.  _

Zhangjing looks back at the party, seeing some people socializing when an idea pops into his head. “Here, I don’t need you to follow me around all night, so just have fun, talk to some people, I don’t know.” Zhangjing hands his plate to Yanjun, hoping that Yanjun realizes that he sees him more as a friend than a servant.

Yanjun brings his hands out of his pockets to take the plate, a small smile appearing on his lips. “Alright.” Yanjun turns to one of the empty tables and starts eating.  _ Well, maybe he’s just not a fan of crowds.  _ Zhangjing turns around to get more food when he bumps into another person, losing his balance.

He closes his eyes and braces himself, but he suddenly feels an arm reel him back, opening his eyes to see that he was face to face with a black haire Id stranger.  _ Oh no, he's handsome.  _ "You should be more careful, bro."  _ Bro? What on earth does that even mean?  _ Zhangjing passes it off merely as some sort of dialect or some trendy word that their kingdom hasn't caught wind of yet.

Zhangjing steadies himself and pries the man's hand off of his back. "Thanks, and sorry for bumping into you." The man waves his hand around, smiling at Zhangjing. "Well, um. See you, I guess?" Zhangjing walks past him and back to the food, grabbing another plate to fill it up with more food.

"Hey cutie, you come here often?" Zhangjing rolls his eyes, not pleased at the least at how his entire day has been going.  _ Well, not all bad.  _ Zhangjing smiles to himself, not exactly knowing why all the highlights of his day so far have involved Yanjun. "Aw, come on. Don't ignore me~"

Placing his plate down on the table, Zhangjing turns to the person on his side that didn't seem to take a hint.  _ Oh no, he's handsome too.  _ Coming into contact with a tall and lean man that Zhangjing doesn't recognize either. "Is there something you need?" Zhangjing forces out, his voice cracking near the end much to his dismay.

"Nah, not really. I'm just waiting for the prince to arrive."  _ Oh, so is this one of my suitors? Then maybe that other guy is too.  _ Zhangjing sees the man that saved him from falling down, seeing him talk to another person Zhangjing doesn't recognize. "Though if he doesn't, you'd be a nice compromise."  _ Well, that's not very nice.  _

Zhangjing is torn between telling this guy off, and keeping his composure, after all he was raised better than to go off at everything and everyone that ticked him off. "That's not very nice." This time was a different scenario though. "You must not be very serious about courting the prince then."

The man's eyes narrow at Zhangjing, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You're interesting." He gets patted on the shoulder twice before the man turns around and walks away. Zhangjing sighs, picking his plate up again and heads towards the table where he sees Justin and Cheng Xiao eating along with some other strangers.

He's barely made three steps when another person interrupts him, the girl talking to Yanjun from earlier standing in front of him with her arms stretched to the side to prevent him from sidestepping her.  _ What is happening? I just want to eat.  _ Zhangjing internally complains, wishing that this whole party thing never had to happen.

Zhangjing's ready to ask what this rude lady wants from him, but she takes the initiative to start the conversation. "Your… garden… is very… nice…"  _ Does she have some sort of speech impediment? _ Zhangjing doesn't judge her for that, everyone has different degrees of speaking aptitude after all. "Your brother… Minghao… also… very nice…"

_ Okay, this is getting weird.  _ Zhangjing tries to show how uninterested he is in the conversation through his face, but it seems that it wasn't getting to this strange lady. "Watch your… back…" He is about to ask what her deal is when she places a finger on his lips. "That's all… take care… goodbye…" With that, she walks away, leaving Zhangjing with an insurmountable amount of questions.

He rushes to the table with Justin, quickly sitting down on the vacant seat in between his father and his brother. "Good evening, I apologize for being late." Zhangjing bows to the two people he doesn't know, seeing as they were sitting with the king would mean they would have to be quite important people.

"Oh? Are you Zhangjing? You've really grown since the last time I saw you." One of the men who was dressed in sophisticated looking military uniform that looked off putting for where they were. Zhangjing nods with a smile, being caught off guard when the person he was talking to stood up. "Well, guess I'll fetch my son, and the other one." He says, walking away from the table.

After that, his father and the other guy stand up as well. "Well, we'll be moving our discussion elsewhere. You kids have fun." After that, the three of them were left alone on the table. Zhangjing awkwardly picks at his food as he waits for his suitors.

"Hey, Justin." Zhangjing calls out, earning a muffled "hm?" seeing as the younger was still eating. "Do you really want to stay at this table? This might be boring." Justin starts chewing quickly, swallowing all the food in his mouth with a gulp of water.

"What? And miss out on you being courted for the first time in your life? No way." Justin slaps him on the back, earning a small yelp due to Zhangjing not expecting it.

"I'll just go get Yanjun, if anyone arrives tell them that, okay?" Justin gives him a thumbs up as Zhangjing stands up from his seat, already spotting Yanjun on the table he was at earlier.

"Hey, I know I said you don't need to follow me around, but if you want, you can come sit with us over there." Zhangjing points at the table with Justin and Cheng Xiao. "Ah, but you don't have to if you don't want to." He quickly adds, wanting Yanjun to know that his priority would be the other man's comfort, he really wanted to be friends with Yanjun after all.

Yanjun stands up with a huff, making Zhangjing jump in his spot. “Oh, are you sure?” He asks when he’s composed himself, and Yanjun simply nods. “Well, alright.” They pass through the crowd, and Zhangjing can see that lady from earlier watching the both of them.  _ This is why we don’t invite outsiders.  _

The two of them make it back to Zhangjing’s original table, finding nobody else has arrived before them. “Those guys sure are taking their time.” Justin whines when Zhangjing and Yanjun are seated on the table, but it seems he spoke too soon. “Hey wait, why are your ties matchi-” He cuts himself off when one of the people their father was talking to coming back to the table while pushing two young men towards the empty chairs.

One of them certainly didn’t want to be here, but the other seemed to be doing just fine. “I don’t even want to be here!” His complaints fell on deaf ears however, the man just pushing him into a vacant seat. “I don’t even know who these guys are!” He says, throwing his hands up in the air. The other one simply sits beside him, giving a smile towards them that could rival the sun.

The older man pats them both on the shoulder, “Well, you kids play nice.” Walking away and leaving the two alone with four people they don't know.

“My name’s Zhangjing. What’s yours?” He brings out his hand, the other person reluctantly taking it after clicking his tongue. “Xukun.” Is the only response Zhangjing gets before Xukun pulls his hand back, and slumps on his chair. “And you?” Zhangjing extends his hand out to the other boy, who grabs it much more tightly than Zhangjing expected from such a baby face. “You can call me Nongong.” Zhangjing nods before bringing his hand under the table to soothe it

“So if you two are not here to court the prince, what for then?” Justin asks, an eyebrow raised at Xukun and Nongnong. 

Xukun sighs, sitting up to look directly at them rather than the table. “Well, when my father heard that Queen Jieqiong and King JIa’er were coming here, he insisted that we go too. I don’t even know what’s happening, he just dragged us along.” He answered in one quick breath, huffing out his frustrations. Nongnong does nothing but nod along, a smile perpetually plastered on his face.

All their heads turn when they see two people approaching their table.  _ The flirty one and that creepy girl.  _ Zhangjing tries to make his disdain not appear on his face, but it seems he wasn’t as good at hiding his emotions as he thought. “Oh my… Zhengting… I don’t think… we’re… welcome here..” The tall boy with her who’s name is apparently Zhengting simply shrugs and seats himself next to Xukun.

As if they were coming on cue, the other person his father was talking to arrived along with another person that Zhangjing recognized as the guy he bumped into earlier that evening. “Alright, that’s everyone. We’ll be going then.” The older guy walked along with the lady away from their table, leaving the eight of them alone. The last of them to arrive sits in between Yanjun and Nongnong, apologizing for being the last one to arrive.

The atmosphere at their table can only be defined as awkward, the eight of them having a silent staredown with each other waiting for someone to speak up. Justin claps his hands together, “Let’s start with introductions then! I’ll start, and we can go in a circle ending with my brother over here.” He exclaims while ruffling Zhangjing’s hair, much to the older man’s dismay. “I’m Prince Justin, and since I have no recollection of ever playing with other princes, this one is probably the one you guys are looking for.” Justin points at Zhangjing once again, and Zhangjing internally laughs seeing how surprised Zhengting was.

Following the order of introductions, Cheng Xiao lowers her head. “Cheng Xiao.” Silence overtakes them for a while, probably expecting her to say more, but when she doesn’t, they unanimously decide that that’s all she has to say. “Zhu Zhengting. I’m sure you’ll be seeing me a lot more around these parts.” He winks at Zhangjing, who visibly cringes at the display.

When it’s Xukun’s turn next, he rolls his eyes and taps Nongnong on the shoulder. “Oh, my name’s Chen Linong, but you can call me Nongnong. The grumpy one is Cai Xukun.” Xukun shoots him a glare, but he clearly isn’t very mad at the description. The last person left that Zhangjing doesn’t know is the next one. “I’m Wang Ziyi, it’s nice to meet you all.” He bows to each and every one of them individually.

“Lin Yanjun.” He says when it was his turn, but it was so quiet and fast that Zhangjing wouldn’t be surprised if nobody but him heard it. Realizing it was his turn, Zhangjing cleared his throat. “My name’s You Zhangjing, and this is my friend Lin Yanjun.” Yanjun turns to look at him, an unreadable expression on his face.

“Well? What now?” Xukun asks when they finish their introductions. They turn to Justin, who simply shrugged his shoulders along with an “I don’t know.”  _ Oh wow, this night is really turning out well.  _

Zhangjing’s fine with just letting this night continue on like this and never thinking about it again, he was never a fan of royalty arranging their children together for marriage anyway. “Uhm, Ziyi and Zhengting, I do have a question for you two.” The two in question whip their heads towards Zhangjing, awaiting his inquiry. “Why exactly did you two come here? I was told it was to court me, but for both of you to arrive at the same time? It’s odd.”

Ziyi’s lips formed into a line, not knowing how to respond, and it seemed Zhengting didn’t know how to either. “Well, to tell you the truth, yeah it’s as you probably expected. They’re clearly trying to go for an arranged marriage, I don’t know who thought of it first, but the others probably caught wind of that and decided to send their own kids over under the guise of trying to win your heart before theirs could.” Zhengting eventually lets out, drumming his fingers on the ornate wooden table.

“Is it the same for you Ziyi?” Zhangjing asks, catching the man in question by surprise. “Uh, yeah. Probably…”  _ That’s not a very concise answer.  _ He thinks, but he’s willing to let it go knowing that probably nobody wanted to be here. “Well, isn’t that something.” 

“So whatever we talk about here is probably going to be irrelevant because the four of them over there are gonna reach their own decision anyway.” Xukun deadpans, earning some silent agreement from the others in the table.  _ So that’s how it’s going to be.  _ Zhangjing dislikes this entire situation a whole lot, though he never really was a fan of how things are run in royalty, which is why he can’t wait to be king and change things around here.  _ But I’d at least hope I’d be with someone I chose.  _

Another awkward silence sweeps over them, nobody knowing what to say. Minutes that felt like hours passing by without anyone doing anything but staring at each other. Out of everyone in the table, Zhangjing can see that Ziyi is the most unnerved, but he doesn’t exactly know what’s the best way to ask him why he’s like that, knowing that it wouldn’t be very tactful to direct everyone’s attention to him. Not knowing what else to do, Zhangjing just eats his food silently, not even hearing a peep from Justin.

Just when the silence was close to unbearable, what Zhangjing assumes to be their parents along with his father gather beside them. “It’s time for them to head home.” Zhangjing’s father said, as the three people he was with started to wave goodbye. “Finally.” Xukun says, halfway through standing up before being pushed down by presumably his father. “What?”

“The three of us are going home. The rest of you are going to stay here for a month.” It takes a while for the sentence to process in anyone’s mind, especially Zhangjing’s.  _ These four are going to be here for an entire month? Living with us? But why?  _ It’s not like Zhangjing particularly disliked any of them, but he’d really prefer them just going back home and for his life to go back to normal. He’s still so out of it that he doesn’t even register what Xukun was shouting until he feels someone pinching his left cheek.

He turns his head to the source of the sudden stimuli, being just as surprised as Yanjun who quickly retracted his hand. “I, um, sorry. You kind of looked unfocused?” Yanjun stumbles around his words, clearly remorseful for what he’s done. “No, it’s okay. I appreciate your concern.” Zhangjing reassures him with a smile, turning back to the conversation at hand.

“Why exactly do they need to stay?” Zhangjing asks amidst the bickering between multiple people. “Oh… did you not… mention… disliking… arranged marriages…?”  _ Well, we did, but how did you even hear that?  _ Zhangjing nods, expectant of what she was about to say next. “That’s why… they’ll stay… so you can… pick the right one…” 

“That’s still just a month, there’s no way for things to happen that quickly.” His reply piques the interest of who he assumes is Ziyi’s father, tilting his head slightly at Zhangjing’s words. “Oh? So you’d rather they stay here longer?” Zhangjing shakes his head, not exactly welcome to the idea that they’d stay here for more than a month. 

“Well, it’s decided then. If by the end of the month you still can’t make a choice, then they’ll stay for longer.” His father decides for him, but Zhangjing knows better than to argue now, he’s already disrespected them by retaliating after all. He wasn’t pleased at the slightest at this arrangement, it was basically a forced marriage with extra steps.“What if I don’t end up liking any of them?” 

“Then we give up, all our alliances and trades are done for.” Xukun’s father interjects, and Zhangjing can feel himself growing weak at what he just heard.  _ Why do I have to shoulder such an immense responsibility?  _ It’s at this moment that Zhangjing really wishes he was just born as a simple peasant, maybe even going around as a bard in taverns, anything would be more preferable than  **this** .

“So by the end of this it’s either our country breaks off our relationship with three or two of our allies.” Zhangjing surmises that their plan is so inherently flawed, why would they place such a dastardly ultimatum for the risk of their alliances breaking. “Oh no… it’ll be okay… if you pick one… but if you don’t… let’s hope it doesn’t… come to that…” 

With that, the four adults take their leave, eight dumbstruck individuals left sitting on the table. “What the hell was that?” Justin whispers to his ear when he’s definitely sure that nobody important could hear it. “Their conditions are so weird! Why would the four of them agree to this?”

“I don’t know, Justin.” Zhangjing bites back with a bit too much emotion than he’d anticipated. He scans the people seated on the table with him, barring Xukun and Nongnong, he’d have to choose between Ziyi and Zhengting in order to maintain order in their kingdoms.  _ What if I don’t end up liking any of them?  _ His words echo back in his mind before his eyes subconsciously land on Yanjun. 

“I have absolutely no idea what’s going to happen this next month.”


	2. That's a secret.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Sorry if this took so long! It's a shorter chapter but don't worry I'll be going to focus super hard now on writing and updating this fic more consistently!

“So, what now?” The person to break the silence was none other than Zhengting, chin resting on his hand as his face formed into a pout. “Are we all just going to stay in your room with you?”

“What? No way.” Justin retorts almost immediately, face scrunched up. Zhengting merely raised an eyebrow, egging him to elaborate. “The two of us already take up enough space in our room, there’s no way we can add four more.” At the mention of Justin and Zhangjing still sharing a room at their age, some light chuckles fill the silence.

Zhangjing, realizing this conversation would go nowhere, decides that it would be better off to ask the servants around the castle whether or not they’ve prepared some spare rooms for their guests to use. “Yanjun, come with me.” He whispered to the younger man beside him, who only nodded in response. “I’m going to get some rooms prepared then, in the meantime you all can stay here.” With that, he stands up and exits the banquet hall, with Yanjun following suit.

“Ugh, this is so frustrating!” Zhangjing huffs once he makes sure that it’s just him and Yanjun in the hallway. “To begin with, isn’t this whole thing just too much for one person to handle? And to give me such a short time frame, unbelievable!” He kicks one of the stone walls nearby, quickly regretting his decision as he recoils from the pain. 

“Are you okay?” Yanjun muttered under his breath as Zhangjing knelt down to nurse his foot. “Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry you had to see that.” He replied, standing up and ready to lead the way to where he knew the majority of the servants would be. “But you agree with me right? Maybe they aren’t so bad, but giving me a month, now that’s just asking for too much!”

Yanjun simply nodded, and this was when Zhangjing realized he would probably be spending needless effort ranting to someone who either doesn’t care or doesn’t understand the gravity of his situation. Though not having a conversation partner didn’t make him any less frustrated.

“You know, that Zhengting guy tried to flirt with me during the party! He said that I would be a nice compromise if the prince didn’t arrive!” Zhangjing paused, wanting to make sure that if ever Yanjun wanted to say something, he could, but he was met with no verbal response once more. “Well, jokes on him I guess! I’ve never wanted to say that I was the prince more than that moment, but I’m so glad I didn’t!”

“So are you going to pick Ziyi?” Yanjun chimed in, catching Zhangjing by surprise. _Well, between him and Zhengting, probably._ But really, he’d prefer that he wouldn’t choose any of them, they probably are just as enthusiastic about an arranged marriage as he is, which is to say not at all. “Or what about those other two? They seemed nice.”

“You mean Xukun and Nongnong? What about them?” Zhangjing replied, glad to see that he’s actually conversing with Yanjun. “Well, didn’t that lady say that as long as you picked one, it’d all be okay? I assume that since they’re staying too, you’d have to choose from all four of them.” Zhangjing froze, feeling Yanjun’s body lightly bump into his. 

_Oh my God, I didn’t think of that._ Zhangjing pivots, turning to find Yanjun right in front of him, he placed his hands on the taller man’s shoulders. “Lin Yanjun, what do I do?” He starts shaking Yanjun, feeling even more stressed after what the other man just told him. Suddenly, Zhangjing feels Yanjun’s hands on top of his, forcing him to stop. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” Was Yanjun’s simple reply, a dimpled smile plastered on his face.

_Wow, he’s a lot more handsome up close._ Zhangjing can feel his face heating up from the thought, quickly retracting his hands and turning around before Yanjun could realize. “Y-yeah, I’m sure I will.” He quickens the pace he was walking, with Yanjun doing the same.

Before he knew it, they’d arrived at the portion of the cast dedicated to the servant’s living quarters. “Lin Chaoze? Are you there? I need your help!” Zhangjing shouted as he knocked on the heavy wooden door, hearing shuffling coming from inside the room. 

The door was pulled open slightly, Chaoze peeking his head through the gap, eyebrows raised in lieu of asking what he needed. “Sorry to bother you, but are there any spare rooms around? Preferably those that nobody else uses.”

Zhangjing thought that Chaoze was eyeing him in an odd way, but his gaze was actually trained on Yanjun behind him. “What do you need the rooms for?” Chaoze’s eyes moved back to Zhangjing, the lilt of suspicion still fairly evident. “Oh, we have some guests staying over for the next month so they kind of need rooms, there’s four of them in total.”

“Oh, I thought it was for..” Chaoze trailed off as he looked at Yanjun once again, “Nevermind. So that’s four rooms right? That’s quite a lot.” _I wonder what he thought the rooms were for._ Zhangjing disposed of the thought for now, knowing there are much more pressing matters. “I think they can do with sharing two rooms.” Zhangjing answers, hoping that the other princes would agree with his decision.

Chaoze shuts his eyes, humming to himself for a while. “Yeah, we can do that. Lead the way then, I’ll show them the way to their rooms after we fetch them.” Zhangjing lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, glad to see that this problem was solved with relative ease. The trio began walking back to the banquet hall, “Still though, I’m surprised that the guests need rooms, I knew they were coming but not that they were staying.” Chaoze offhandedly comments as they walk the empty hallways.

“I don’t know either, it seems the kings and queen all decided this on a whim tonight.” Zhangjing admits, still not completely capable of wrapping his head around the scheme. “Either way, they’re here now and we have to be hospitable, make sure to tell all the other servants of their stay.” He adds once they’ve come to face the door to the banquet hall, Zhangjing pushes it open, finding it to be mostly empty with the exception of the table where he sat with the other princes earlier.

“Sorry it took so long, we’ve got you guys a place to stay though.” Zhangjing announced, delighted to see how the face of the four guests lit up at his words. "Just follow him and he'll lead you guys to your rooms." He directs their attention to Chaoze, who only bowed in response.

“Well, I guess it’s time to say goodbye for now then.” Ziyi announced as he stood up, with everyone else doing the same shortly after. The four guests all stood close to Chaoze, who took that as his cue to exit the banquet hall to direct them to their rooms. “See you around, bro!” Ziyi said before walking out with the rest, shutting the door behind him.

“I’m going to head to our room now, goodnight!” At his words, Justin zipped out of the room, Cheng Xiao hurriedly chasing after him. _Rude, we could have just gone together._ Zhangjing’s face unknowingly formed into a pout due to the sour thought, a detail that Yanjun seemed to have picked up on. 

“Is something wrong?” Yanjun asked, eyebrows raised at Zhangjing. “Nothing, it’s already late, I’ll see you tomorrow Yanjun.” Zhangjing replied, exiting the banquet hall and walking towards the room he shared with his younger brother, footsteps echoing behind him. “Your room is on the other end of the hall, Yanjun. Why are you following me?” Zhangjing made a brisk turn, surprising the taller man.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I just thought I’d have to…” Yanjun trailed off, lowering his gaze onto the floor. _Oops, I hope he doesn’t think I’m mad._ ‘No, it’s fine. Sorry if I sounded mad, I guess I just want to go to sleep.” Zhangjing plastered a smile on his face, hoping it would ease Yanjun’s worries. “And don’t worry, I can make it back on my own. Goodnight, Yanjun.”

Zhangjing turned back once more, continuing the way he was walking, relieved to hear Yanjun’s footsteps heading towards the opposite direction. He arrived at his room shortly after, opening to find Justin already sleeping soundly on his own bed. Zhangjing quickly shrugged off his stuffy clothes and put on a long night shirt, plopping down on his bed with a soft thud.

Zhangjing didn’t want to sleep with the thoughts of arranged marriage still swimming through his head, but the feeling of heavy eyelids forced him to push it for tomorrow’s Zhangjing to handle. _Marriage is for a person you actually love._ Was his last thought before he felt his consciousness fade.

The soft rustling of leaves and humming of birds was enough to bring Zhangjing out of his somewhat peaceful slumber. _Right, those four guys are gonna be around for a while._ He stretched his arms out, standing up once he felt ready to start the day. 

Although he didn't have a particular schedule that day, it didn't hurt to plan his day out beforehand. First, he'll visit the garden, then the stables, and then spend the rest of his day in the library. _That doesn't leave much time for me to interact with the other princes though._

He tries to think of a way to circumvent that issue, but all he concludes is that if they really wanted to spend time with him, they would be the ones to seek him out. With that, he's content with his plan and is ready to set out for the day. He places his hands on the door, swinging it open to find someone already waiting right in front of him.

"Yanjun?! What are you doing here?" Zhangjing blurts out with a bit less composure than he'd like, with the taller man seemingly taken aback by his words.

"Did you forget? I'm _your_ servant, I take orders from you and stuff." Yanjun's voice was dripping with sarcasm, a small smirk appearing on his face. Usually, Zhangjing would have been quite annoyed at the display, but for some reason he just couldn't bring himself to scold Yanjun. "Anyway, are you really going out looking like that again?"

Zhangjing looked down, observing his rather big nightshirt that stretched all the way to below his knees. "Yeah, is there a problem?" He answered back, not really knowing what Yanjun was trying to get at. "Oh, I just thought you'd make yourself look more, I don't know… presentable? If that makes sense."

_That does make sense._ Whether he likes it or not, he'd have to pick someone to marry, so wouldn't it be better to try and pick someone who actually loved him? "But if they don't love me the way I am, then do I really want to marry them?" _Oh, I said that out loud._ Zhangjing surmises, seeing that Yanjun was possibly thinking of a reply.

"Well, nevermind that." Zhangjing waved off his own remark, not really wanting to have that as a conversation topic. "I have the whole day planned out already and I seriously don't mind if you prefer doing your own thing." Zhangjing pat Yanjun on the shoulder, walking past him as he traversed the hallway.

He didn't make it far before he felt a tight grip on his wrist, forcing him to turn around. "I want to…" _Want to? Want to what?_ Zhangjing would be lying if he said his heartbeat didn't quicken at the gesture. "You want to…?" Zhangjing incites him to finish, not exactly knowing what words would come out of Yanjun's mouth.

"I want to stay with you." The last part was so quiet that Zhangjing wasn't even sure if that was exactly what Yanjun said, but what he was sure of was the feeling of heat emanating from his face. "W-well, I can't say no to that! Follow me, then!"

Their first destination was the garden, and Zhangjing was more than glad to spend some actual time with Yanjun, maybe he could tell him about all the flowers he cultivates, or maybe they could just walk around and bask in the sunlight.

Too bad there were already people when they arrived. "Good morning!" The boy Zhangjing recognized as Nongnong said with a sunny smile on his face. Zhangjing couldn't help but smile back in response, though his eyes wandered to the crouched figure facing away from them and towards the flowers.

_Is that Xukun?_ Zhangjing was quite saddened by how the introduction of these two ruined his plans, but it's not like they were actively out to ruin his day, so he'd let it slide for today. "What are you guys doing here?" He asked, approaching the two younger boys. 

Xukun stood up, patting his palms on his sides as he turned to face Zhangjing. "We were just exploring the place, this is a really nice garden. I've never even seen some of these plants." He answered, glancing around the surroundings.

"Thanks, and I wouldn't mind if you guys took some of these home." _Wait, they're still going to be here for a month._ Zhangjing reminded himself. "Anyway, we'll be here together for quite a while. So I hope we get along." Zhangjing stretched his hand out, but was surprised to find himself enveloped in a bone crushing hug.

"Yeah! This whole thing sounds really tough for you, so feel free to talk to us if ever you need to! Right, Xukun?" Nongnong said, removing one of his arms around Zhangjing to drag Xukun into the hug. "F-fine." With Xukun's agreement, Nongnong finally let go and Zhangjing could feel his airway open up once more.

"We're going to explore the rest of this place now, it was fun talking with you!" Nongnong grabbed Xukun by the hand and practically ran outside the garden, not even leaving enough time for Zhangjing to formulate a reply.

"They seem like nice people." Zhangjing heard Yanjun say from behind him, suddenly feeling bad at how the other was pretty much excluded from the conversation earlier. "So, what did we come here for?" Yanjun followed up, looking down at a patch of grass beside them.

"Nothing important, I just like making sure my flowers are okay. Follow me." Zhangjing answered, leading Yanjun further in the garden, past a few hedges until they reached the center. The very middle part of the garden held a small, man made pond with a sturdy wooden bridge perched on top of it.

The two of them traverse the bridge, reaching the other side that housed a neatly kept pergola with some chairs and a table. Zhangjing sat on one of the chairs, motioning for Yanjun to sit on the one beside him, who seemed to have no qualms doing so.

Even though the pergola provided some shade, there were still rays of sun slightly prickling against Zhangjing's skin. "Isn't the weather nice today?" He asked, the feeling of warm sunlight and cool misty air combining to create a pleasant feeling. 

"Yeah, it makes me feel at home? If that makes sense." Though Yanjun probably meant no harm with the statement, Zhangjing still felt a pit of guilt form inside of him, there was no denying that even if Yanjun seemed to have warmed up to him, he was still taken away from his home and family to be made into a servant.

Zhangjing steeled himself, he wanted to let Yanjun know how he feels about the predicament they've found themselves in. "Yanjun, I know this isn't much, but I want to apologize." He blurted out without thinking, half-surprised and half-relieved when the only reply he got was a "What for?"

"Your family, your home. You must miss them quite a lot. I understand if you hate being my servant, if you hate m-" Zhangjing cut himself off when he felt a pair of hands lay on top of his. "You don't have to apologize. It's not like you specifically ordered them to take me away or anything."

After saying that, Yanjun quickly retracted his hands, standing up to face the sun as he stretched. "Besides, I don't think I would have lasted any longer out there. I just wish I knew how my parents are doing." Yanjun deliberated while walking forward, peering into his reflection by the pond. Zhangjing followed suit, standing up and walking towards Yanjun.

"Yanjun, if ever you want to go back home, just tell me. I'll talk to my father, or maybe I can even help you sneak o-" Zhangjing is once again interrupted, with Yanjun staring him down in a way Zhangjing can't describe. "You don't have to do that. After all, I've already found a reason to stay."

_A reason to stay?_ "And what might that be?" Zhangjing doesn't know why, but he can feel his palms sweat, his breathing unevening as his heartbeat quickens. All of a sudden, he feels one of Yanjun's hands cup him on his cheeks, and for once he doesn't care how his face is practically burning up. Yanjun smiled, the same indent on his cheeks being present as always.

"That's a secret."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi omg this is a shorter update but I really just wanted to bring out a chapter so you guys know i'm still alive! I finally sorted out some irl things so I'm hoping I can start pumping out atleast one chapter or more per week, thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> hi oomfies and people that happened to stumble across this fic! thanks for reaching the end <333
> 
> now I just wanna say that I really didn't think of writing a multi-chapter fic but when I finished my first draft I thought, "Wow this is so self-indulgent" and I wanted to add some actual STORY into it if that makes sense. i'm trying to set up quite an intricate story, so I hope you support me the whole way if this very short first chapter enticed you! sorry if the story or characters are all over the place this is my first time writing anything that wasn't strictly academic so it's definitely a new experience. anyway i'm going to say that if people are actually interested in reading the story in it's entirety i'd be more than welcome to keep writing! finally I apologize if there are any grammatical errors and stuff English isn't my first language zzz but i'm definitely trying! btw I've tagged three relationships because who knows how the story is going to develop :^
> 
> once again, check out my twt @zhangjingultfan and scream at me about the fic or dm me things I could improve on or things you want to see in the story and i'll try my best to add it!


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